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Introduction
The Future of Food/Hungry Debate, April 24th 2013. Graphical interpretation by Shakeeb Abu Hamdan.
Food and the way we produce food are at the heart of the social, environmental and health challenges we face today, raising profound questions over how our planet can sustain and feed 9 billion people by 2050. Alongside increasing recognition that what and how we eat are intrinsically linked to factors such as poverty and wellbeing, there is a global nutrition crisis with a dual problem of hunger and obesity.
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One of the things I love about the story in Hungry is there are so many aspects of our relationship with food that were touched upon, that I can imagine some fantastic discussions and debates amongst the audience who had the opportunity to watch the play.
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Angela McFarlane Visiting Professor, King’s College, London, University of Bath and University of Bristol.
2014 is Y Touring's 25th anniversary year and we celebrate our quarter century of touring schools. This year’s main production is Hungry, a specially commissioned Theatre of Debate play by leading playwright Sarah Daniels which explores our relationship with food.
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This document offers you:
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• An outline of the main learning and discussion points raised in the drama
• Three cross-curricular activities that you or your colleagues might like to use with your students in advance of our visit to your school in order to maximise the learning opportunities provided by this resource
• Background information on the play, debate and online resources
• A guide to hosting Hungry in your school
• A glossary of terms
Sarah Daniels has been supported throughout the writing of Hungry by the following experts:
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• Professor Susan Jebb, Professor of Diet and Population Health, University of Oxford, UK
• Dr Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, Chief Executive Officer and Head of Mission, Food, • • •
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• • • •
Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN)
Professor Alan Dangour, MSc, PhD, R Nutritionist, Senior Lecturer, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Professor Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy, City University of London
Professor Angela McFarlane, Visiting Professor, King’s College, London, University of Bath and University of Bristol
Kath Dalmeny, Policy Director, Sustain
Rob Moore Director, Behaviour Change
Susan Elkin, Education Editor of The Stage, Journalist and former teacher
Dr Sophie Petit-Zeman, Scientific Adviser to Y Touring
All of the above attended or contributed to a Y Touring workshop day on Wednesday 24th April 2013, the purpose of which was to explore the issues and provide the playwright with an opportunity to find an 'in' to writing the play. They have also read and fed back on each draft of Sarah Daniels' script, attended a rehearsed reading and contributed to the development of the online resources.
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Food and food issues are absolutely universal. Every human being has to eat and has to have some kind of relationship with food or even lack of it. Susan Elkin Journalist and Teacher
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Sarah has written a play which at the same time as being highly entertaining, explores, through its sharply observed characters and strong dramatic narrative, the experts' areas of research and the challenges they are working to address.
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These challenges include: understanding what makes a healthy diet, discovering ways of changing our behaviour, finding ways of containing the growing obesity epidemic, stopping food waste, protecting biodiversity, campaigning for the adoption of sustainable food into our diets and food policies that truly address current and future challenges.
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Hungry provides you and your students with the opportunity to discuss, debate and learn about any or all of the above. The debate that follows the play will challenge audiences to explore solutions to some of the major challenges, including why we need to change our behaviour in relation to food and whether and how we might achieve that through policy and regulation. The online resources include specially selected filmed sequences from the play which will give you PAGE 2 OF 26
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and your students the opportunity to revisit the themes and the issues and deepen learning. The resources also include filmed interviews with the experts and films of some of the presentations given on the workshop day. You could also choose to use the filmed sequences from the play and the filmed expert interview/presentations with students who have not seen the play.
Learning Points The following have been developed with input from Y Touring's evaluation team and other experts to provide an overview of the key learning points within the play and the discussion points explored in the debate.
a)
People’s eating choices are influenced by many factors, including social and environmental factors, not just hunger
b)
What people eat has consequences for their health, and can contribute to their being underweight, overweight or deficient in certain nutrients
c)
Being overweight or obese increases your risk of developing the most common form of diabetes, called type 2 diabetes
d)
In type 2 diabetes, the body does not produce enough, or cannot respond to, insulin. This is the hormone that moves glucose (sugar) from your blood into your cells, where it is converted into energy
e)
Diabetes is a serious condition that can lead to skin infections, loss of a limb, loss of sight and heart problems
f)
Exercise increases the amount of energy used by the body & so can lead to weight loss
g)
Bio-diversity is important to ensure sustainable food stocks to feed the world’s population
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Extras I’m a Scientist I’m a Scientist is a free online resource where school students get to interact with real scientists.
For the Hungry 2014 tour, I’m a Scientist is working with Y Touring to provide an opportunity for your students to do this through The Hungry Zone.
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This part of the I’m a Scientist website allows your students to explore then science behind Hungry in depth through asking scientists questions about issues raised. All activity is online, with the I’m a Scientist team of five food and nutrition experts are available for half hour live chats until Easter 2014. Students can also submit questions off line.
! http://imascientist.org.uk
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Being online, students are given a chance to ask questions they might otherwise feel uncomfortable to share after the performance. It also allows students to find out more about the social, environmental and health issues raised by the performance and to explore how the characters’ experiences relate to what real scientists are researching about hunger and obesity.
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To find out more, contact us either by phone on 020 7520 3090 or by email to a.geddes@ytouring.org.uk
Write a Review competition We invite you to encourage your students to write and submit a review of Hungry by Sarah Daniels. In order to help you do this, we are including two activity sheets.
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The first activity sheet is best used before your students see the play to ensure that when they do see the production they watch it with a critical eye.
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The second activity sheet should be issued to the students after they have seen the play as a guideline for how to write a good review.
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The reviews will be read by Susan Elkin, herself a theatre critic and journalist, and the playwright Sarah Daniels. The winning review will be announced on April 30th 2014.
The Prize This year we will be offering two iPads as prizes, one for the winning student review and one for the school that submits the most reviews.
All reviews should be submitted to the Y Touring Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ytouring Participants must ‘like’ the page to be considered.
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Hungry in Your School
! !The Theatre of Debate model consists of a performance of the play (approx 60 minutes), a debate Set model for Hungry
(up to 45 minutes) and online educational resources.
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The Play - Hungry is a contemporary drama with humour about two very different women and two very different families, whose lives become inextricably intertwined when Susanna, an ambitious young lawyer, employs Ruby, a grandmother, as her cleaner. Before the performance, the Y Touring facilitator will introduce the audience to the use of the electronic voting system and the subject matter.
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The play will be performed in traverse style - a form of theatrical stage in which the audience is predominantly on two sides of the stage, facing each other.
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The Debate - After the performance there will be a facilitated debate in which the actors return in character and answer questions. Electronic voting is used before the performance and then throughout the debate. The debate lasts up to 45 minutes, depending on the time available in your school.
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Online - Online resources will be made available to at http://ytouring.myresourcecloud.net.
The resources will include interactive activities, which you can use as the basis for follow-up lessons as well as a series of short film clips of sequences from the play, which are useful to stimulate further exploration of the issues raised and to refresh the students’ memories where necessary.
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Sensitive issues - There may be students in your school who have similar issues or experiences to the characters in Hungry.
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Ashley is a 16 year old who recently lost his father and finds himself having to care for his mother who is experiencing clinical depression. Figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest 244,000 people under 19 are carers - about 23,000 are under nine. The Children's Society warns
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this is likely to be "the tip of the iceberg" and that children's education and job prospects could be damaged.
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Ashley is deeply ashamed of his family's dependence on attending a food bank. They are too poor to support themselves without it, and he is acutely aware that others might judge his family as members of the 'undeserving poor' even though the situation they find themselves in is through no fault of their own, rather it is a result of the impact of the early death of his father and his mother’s subsequent depression. The charity the Trussell Trust predicts up to one million Britons will turn to food banks in 2014 to feed their families.
!Xavier is a lonely 13 year old who doesn’t like sports and is obese and at risk of developing type 2 diabetes unless he changes his behaviour and diet. It is more than likely that he experiences bullying as a result of his condition: Ashley refers to him as ‘Posho Porko pieboy' in the play. Doctors say the UK has the highest rate of child obesity in Western Europe.
!Obesity has been linked with serious illnesses during childhood and an increased risk of
developing conditions such as type 2 diabetes, asthma and breathing difficulties during sleep. National surveys in England suggest about three in 10 two-to-15-year-olds are overweight, while 14-20% are obese.
!You can find out more at the following websites: ! https://youngcarers.net
! http://www.nhs.uk/CARERSDIRECT/YOUNG/Pages/Youngcarershome.aspx
! http://www.youngminds.org.uk/
! http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/What-is-diabetes/
Any Questions? If you have any questions after reading through the information, please don’t hesitate to contact us either by phone 020 7520 3090 or by email to a.geddes@ytouring.org.uk
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Before the Play
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Food is a fantastic topic to engage people in talking about science, whether that’s about the chemistry as you create recipes or whether it’s thinking about the social science aspect: why do some people choose to eat particular kinds of foods which other people actively avoid? Food is one of those topics which I think everybody can relate to, we all eat, we all have an opinion on it, we all have a view. It’s a great way to draw people into thinking about the scientific issues. My personal interest is in how what we eat affects our health and that matters to all of us.
Susan Jebb, Professor of Diet and Population Health, University of Oxford, UK
Preparing Your Students Evaluations of previous Theatre of Debate projects have emphasised the importance of preparing the students to ensure that they gain the maximum benefit from the project. That said, we know that some teachers prefer not to prepare their students for the event, with the belief that our productions have greater impact if the students are simply told they are going to see a live performance. Either way, we hope that you will find the following suggested pre-play lessons helpful.
Preparatory Activity 1: What does it mean?
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Objective A discussion exercise to ensure that your students are familiar with the key terms and phrases referred to in the play. You may wish to scan the included glossary and substitute alternative words or phrases that you may feel are more relevant.
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Process Explain that you are going to say a word or phrase and that when you call out their name, you want each of your students to say the first word that comes into their head.
! Explain that if they can’t think of a word or if their mind goes blank, they can say ‘Pass’.
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After each round, clarify the actual meaning of the word or phrase if appropriate and discuss as a class some of the associations that have been shared.
! Words and Phrases ! Obesity
Sustainable Food
Under-nutrition
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Biodiversity
Organic
Food bank
Type 2 diabetes
Processed food
Fast food
Saturated fat
Sugary drinks
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Preparatory Activity 2: What do we feel?
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Objective To explore the emotions that students might attach to some of the key words and phrases associated with food.
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Process Explain that you are going to say a word or phrase and that when you call out their name, you want each of your students to say the emotion that they associate with that word.
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Explain that if they can’t think of a word or if their mind goes blank, they can say ‘Pass’.
Discuss, as a class, some of the associations that have been shared. You may wish to scan the included glossary and substitute alternative words or phrases that you may feel are more relevant.
! Words and Phrases !
Biodiversity
Fried chicken shop
Chocolate ants
GM crops
Supermarkets
Vegetarian
Climate change
Food Bank
Preparatory Activity 3: What do we think?
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Objective To explore what your students know, think and feel about issues posed by food and behaviour change and the questions raised in Hungry before seeing the play and participating in the debate. You might want to repeat this activity as a follow up activity as well.
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Resources A large empty classroom or drama studio.
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Process Ask your students to stand in the centre of the space.
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Explain that there is an imaginary line running down the centre of the space, one end of the line represents ‘Agree’ and the opposite end of the line represents ‘Disagree’. The middle of the line is ‘Don’t Know’.
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Explain that you are going to read out a series of statements. If they agree with the statement they should go and stand at the end of the line that is ‘Agree’. If they disagree they should go and stand at the end of the line that is ‘Disagree’. If they are not sure or don’t know what they think
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they should stay in the middle.
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After they have taken up their positions, ask your students to explain why they have chosen their position. After hearing from several students, give your group the opportunity to change their position if they have changed their mind following what others have shared.
! Repeat the process for each statement.
! Statements !
It's the parents fault if their children become obese
Parents are responsible for what their children eat
Food manufacturers should not be allowed to make and sell unhealthy food and drinks
Sugary drinks should be banned
There’s nothing wrong with eating horse meat
Fast food shops (i.e. fried chicken) should not be allowed to open within walking distance of a school
Governments should not make laws about what food and drink manufacturers can make and sell - it is our right to choose
Young people are responsible for what they eat
I wouldn't let my children drink sugary drinks and eat fast food
The low cost of food is more important than ensuring that it is ethically and fairly produced
Advertisements for processed foods should be banned just like cigarette advertising
If other meat became scarce I would be happy to eat insects
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After The Play & Debate
Worksheet 1: Write a review (Review writing competition) This worksheet is designed for students and schools who would like to enter the review writing competition. It is a step by step guideline to writing a review of a play.
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Section 1 – The Production
Include information about the particular production that you saw
If you don't know or can't remember any of this information check out the Theatre of Debate website where you will be able to find it. Section 2 – The Production’s Plot or Narrative
Give a brief outline of the story and the main characters
Do make sure that it is brief – up to 750 words. Section 3 – The Technical Stuff (Set, the music, the costumes etc…) Describe the setting or main features of the scenery. Did the set add something extra to the play? Some sets are very elaborate whereas others seem little more than a bare stage. How appropriate was this particular set to the production you saw and to the space it was being performed in?
Mention any obvious soundtrack, special effects or music. How was sound used in the production? Did a soundtrack add to or create setting, mood or atmosphere?
What did you think about the costumes or props? Did they help actors in their performance? Did they help to express the characters or themes of the production? Did any actor excel in using them to show you what kind of person they are? Did the costumes suit the characters? Section 4 – The Acting and Performances Comment on important characters
How did you rate the actors?
Describe voice and movement choices Section 5 – Conclusion On balance was it a successful production? Did it work for you – did it make you laugh, cry, think? Did you enjoy it? Did it keep your interest and involve you with the characters? Do you think differently as a result of seeing this play and participating in the debate, from the way you thought before? .What questions would you like to ask the playwright? Did it leave you with other questions and if so what were they? Were they about the characters, the storyline or about the science behind food and nutrition? What questions would you like to ask a food scientist as a result of seeing this play? Who else do you think should see this play?
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Hints and Tips
"The first rule is that there are no rules – you're writing a review to express your thoughts and feelings about a theatre show, not taking an exam. There are as many ways to write a review as there are personal responses to any production. There is no right or wrong. Allow yourself to develop your own distinctive voice, and be honest about what you really think about a production: convey your enthusiasm for it or explain why you disliked it"
Lyn Gardner Theatre Critic The Guardian
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When writing your review of the performance, be honest. Just because your friend loved the show doesn't mean that you have to. If you didn't like it, say so. But please remember that although you may express any opinions about the production you have seen they must be justified – good or bad.
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e.g. “I thought the scene with the monkey was boring”
is no help to your review, whereas…
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“The scene with the monkey was quite boring because it went on too long and didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the story”
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…is much better and will get you points from the judges whether or not they agree with your personal opinion. Always give examples to support the point you are making, use details from the performance; acting, set, sound, lighting, audience response etc.
Y Touring Resource Cloud
!The Y Touring Resource Cloud site is where you will find the resources we have created for you to use with your students to deepen their learning after they have watched the play and engaged in the debate.
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The resources for Hungry will include specially filmed scenes from the play that you can use as discussion triggers with your students to explore some of the learning points that the play offers and the debate raises.
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You can use these short scenes with students who have seen the play in order to refresh their memory of the production and to focus in on a specific learning point.
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Here is an example of one of the scenes (dialogue only) on offer with the learning points and suggested discussion triggers.
Trigger 4 – Scene 7 – Dr and Xavier
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DR:
I am. And I have the results of the blood tests we did to check your glucose levels and I’m afraid that they show you have impaired glucose tolerance which means-
XAVIER:
(OVER HER) I know, I know-
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DR:
(CONTINUING OVER HIM) –That your blood sugar levels are a little too high
XAVIER:
(AS THOUGH BORED) And I’ll get Diabetes.
DR:
No, not necessarily, not if you do something about your weight
XAVIER:
So how come there’s a boy in my year with it who’s like this thin? (holding thumb and forefinger slightly apart)
DR:
He would have Type 1 Diabetes which is a different condition and has nothing to do with weight or lifestyle. There isn’t anything he could do to stop it happening. What you’re in danger of getting is Type 2 Diabetes. Only you’re lucky in that you do have a chance to do something about it but you need to start now.
! Links to learning points: ! b) What people eat has consequences for their health, and can contribute to their being underweight, overweight or deficient in certain nutrients
c) Being overweight or obese increases your risk of developing the most common form of diabetes, called type 2 diabetes
d) In type 2 diabetes, the body does not produce enough, or cannot respond to, insulin. This is the hormone that moves glucose (sugar) from your blood into your cells, where it is converted into energy
e) Diabetes is a serious condition that can lead to skin infections, loss of a limb, loss of sight and heart problems
Discussion points/questions:
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• What is your current understanding of diabetes?
• Who gets diabetes? What does it do to your body/health? Is there a cure? How do you
manage the condition? Is it a big deal? What is glucose and what types of food and drink contain glucose?
• Xavier doesn’t understand how his weight can affect his health in the future. Why do you think he isn’t accepting the severity of the situation?
• Xavier comes from a well-off family and he has access to any food he wants, he often eats alone and whatever is in the cupboards. Whose responsibility is it at this point to help Xavier? Himself? The doctors? His parents? School?
• How does the doctor explain the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes?
In addition to the 'scenes' you will also find films of the expert workshop presentations and filmed interviews - they come with transcripts.
!http://ytouring.myresourcecloud.net
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The Play ! RUBY:
Where’s your mum?
ASHLEY:
She’s taken the voucher that Housing Officer gave her and gone down the Food Bank.
RUBY:
Oh good
ASHLEY:
She’s been gone ages though.
RUBY:
Takes a long time down there. The queue’s out the door and the people that give it out then like to pray with you. That can take an eternity if the one you get is very religious.
ASHLEY:
You know we keep getting told at school that food’s too cheap. And I want to go, ‘If that’s right how come so many people have to go to food banks then?’
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Hungry Scene 5!
About the Playwright Sarah Daniels
!Sarah Daniels (born 1957) is a popular and critically acclaimed writer and has had two collections of her plays published by Methuen. Sarah’s playwriting career took off after she was able to spend a year as the writer-in-residence of Sheffield University’s English department. She has been a prolific writer since her first performed play was given a production at the Royal Court in 1981. Her plays have appeared at other venues including the National Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre, the Crucible, Sheffield and Chicken Shed. She has also written episodes of the soap-operas Grange Hill, Eastenders and Holby City. She has also been a member of the board of directors for Clean Break Theatre.
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Plays include: Masterpieces (1983)', The Devil's Gateway (1983), Neaptide (1984), Byrthrite (1986),The Gut Girls (1988), Beside Herself (1990), The Madness of Esme and Shaz (1994) Dust (2003), Flying Under Bridges (2005), Head Rot Holiday (1991), God Blind Me (radio play 2007), But If You Try Sometimes (radio play 2011).
Synopsis Hungry is a contemporary drama about two very different women from two very different families, whose lives become inextricably intertwined when Susanna, an ambitious young lawyer, employs Ruby, a grandmother, as her cleaner.
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Susanna is in the process of making a fortune representing a global fizzy drinks company, and Tobias, her husband, is away in India working on a genetically modified rice project. As a result, she finds herself almost too busy to look after her spoilt, overweight teenage son Xavier, much as she loves him.
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Ruby, on the other hand, has had low-paid, unskilled manual jobs all her life. Her husband died young of a heart attack. What she might lack in intellectual ability, she makes up for in humour and emotional intelligence. Ruby is grateful for the job as she is desperate to find ways of supporting her daughter and grandson Ashley.
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As a result of a mental health condition her daughter is unemployed and about to lose her benefits. Money is so tight, Ruby's daughter has had to resort to using a food bank in order to try and feed Ashley and herself. With some money coming in and the left over food that she smuggles home from Susanna's lavish dinner parties, Ruby finds she can take the pressure off her family.
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Everything changes when, one morning, Ruby discovers Xavier hiding in a kitchen cupboard. He’s playing truant from school to avoid games. (He is teased and bullied because he is so overweight.) At first Ruby says that he has to go back to school and when he refuses she says she’ll have to tell his mother. Xavier turns on Ruby threatening to blackmail her - while hiding in the kitchen cupboard, he's secretly filmed her 'stealing' the left over food. If Ruby tells Susanna that he has been playing truant, he will tell Susanna that Ruby is a thief.
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Desperate to keep her job, Ruby doesn't tell Susanna about Xavier. However, matters come to a head when one day Susanna asks Ruby to accompany Xavier to the doctor because she is busy in court. The doctor explains to Xavier that he is obese and there is a strong possibility if he doesn't change his behaviour he will develop type 2 diabetes.
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Xavier tells Ruby that she must not tell his mother the truth about what the doctor has told them and when Ruby says she will have to tell Susanna, Xavier once again threatens to tell his mother that Ruby is a thief and cannot be trusted.
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Ruby goes to tell Susanna…
Characters XAVIER 13, Susanna’s very over-weight son - Xavier is defensive and unhappy about his weight but covers it with arrogant bluster. He lives in another world from Ruby (the new cleaner in his house) and has no idea how different their lives are until he visits her in her daughter in law’s flat. He goes to a fee-paying school but has gone to great lengths to bunk off games because he can’t bear the teasing and snide jibes of his classmates. He is lonely. He loves his mum but is slightly wary of his dad who, because he’s worried about Xavier, likes to bring the weight issue up every time they speak via Skype.
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ASHLEY 16, Ruby’s Grandson - Ashley loves Ruby Throughout the play he becomes increasingly ground down by his family’s situation, and their lack of money and more and more aware of what others think of ‘benefit scroungers’. Increasingly his anger mounts. The only way he can see getting out of the situation they’re in is to abandon his hopes of going to university and get a job.
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He actually likes having to wear a school uniform because he is self-conscious about his lack of designer casual clothes. He has a pair of trainers which are passable that he bought using his paper round money. They are looking very worn and old now, but since his money goes towards the household expenses, he is unable to buy new ones
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RUBY 60, Ashley’s Grandmother - Ruby has worked hard for her family all her life. She has worked just as hard trying to make the best of things, stay positive and not let others down by giving in to feeling miserable. She has a big heart and likes to make people laugh. Sometimes because she can be outspoken this can backfire. She really wants Ashley to have a better life and would probably do anything for him. She is over 60 and still having to work to support the family.
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Susanna 41, Xavier’s Mother - Susanna is middle class, effortlessly elegant and well-groomed despite having to do her hair and make-up in the car or half way down the stairs. She means well and has a social conscience but sometimes cannot see what is under her nose. She loves Xavier and is concerned that she doesn’t spend enough time with him but her work as a barrister puts increasing demands on her time. She is partly in denial about Xavier’s weight, but also genuinely believes that people come in all shapes and sizes and that it could be puppy fat that he’ll grow out of.
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/doubles as Doctor Young, a paediatrician
The doctor is not at all as Xavier describes her i.e. ‘a bitch’, but a very kind, warm, caring, professional woman who has worked with children and young people for many years.
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(TOBIAS 42, Xavier’s Father – only seen via Skype) - Tobias is well-educated, possibly ex-public school. He is genuinely concerned about Xavier’s health. (He went with him to the last hospital appointment.) He would never admit to anyone that he’s also a bit ashamed of his son both because of the way he looks and his lack of interest in sport. When he was Xavier’s age, he was playing rugby and loving it.
Themes Four of our experts discuss what they feel are the important issues explored in Sarah's play.
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“One of the themes Sarah explores is obesity. Obesity and health are really high up the agenda. People have become aware that the generation of children today, their weight, is actually very different than it was when I was at school, certainly when my grandparents were children. I think that many of us can see the shape of our children has changed over time and are suddenly becoming much much more conscious that being overweight isn’t just about what you look like, but what concerns me and a growing number of people is that your weight is such a strong predictor of your health in later life.” Susan Jebb, Professor of Diet and Population Health, University of Oxford, UK
! “I think we have to re-think what we mean by health. We can’t talk about human physiological health unless we’re talking, if you like about planetary health, because human health depends on what we now these days call ecosystems. Put it this way, the growth of life spans in the 20th century was caused, not entirely, but heavily by destroying the environment – by literally mining the planet.”
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Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy, City University of London
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“The issues that ‘Hungry’ addresses are actually quite wide and various. One I suppose which probably interests me most is this conflict with hunger; the father is in India dealing with hungry populations, and the obesity of his child at home, because it’s pretty damn ridiculous to have half the world hungry, or a substantial part of the world hungry, and the other half dealing with an obesity crisis. The global population has gone seriously wrong. Now obviously, I’m over simplifying; I know as well as everybody this is to do with international borders and politics and all the rest of it, and you can’t solve it instantly, obviously you can’t. But these are the subjects I really would like young people to think about and try to find more imaginative ways than my generation of dealing with it. And I think Sarah’s play ‘Hungry’ is a pretty good starting point for that, because the boy who has got the obesity problem is not just obese because he overeats, he’s got all sorts of family problems; his father’s away and his mother who is a good egg in many ways is not there for him and Xavier is comparing himself all the time with cleaner Ruby and her boy who are very different and in many ways more sensible but who haven’t actually got anything, so I like the way that is done very much.”
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Susan Elkin, Journalist, theatre critic and former English teacher
! “We’ve got to shift from what in my world we call unsustainable diets to sustainable diets. That means eating healthier, eating less and lowering the environmental impact and other things. And we’ve got to get those dietary ingredients from a food supply chain that is running away with itself “
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Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy, City University of London
“One of the things that really struck me was the very clever way that Sarah got across the idea that we take a ready supply of food absolutely for granted; we just assume that we can walk into a supermarket or even now just go on your computer and somebody will arrive at your door with the most amazing cornucopia of riches that you can put in your fridge or worse not even eat. But if it goes out of date, if you don’t eat it, it doesn’t matter you just throw it away because you just phone up again and somebody will arrive with a whole load more. We don’t think about the fact that our situation is very very unusual in the world, because the vast majority of people on this planet really have to struggle just to have enough to eat and here we are throwing away perfectly good food”
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Angela McFarlane, Visiting Professor, King’s College, London, University of Bath and University of Bristol
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THE PLAY
“We’ve actually got to change the footprint of how we eat, the impact on the planet, how much water we use, how much energy we use, essentially food is about resources – land use, water, oil, biodiversity . If we follow the public health dietary guidelines we’d lower our environmental footprint. And it’s mainly by reducing meat and dairy. But the cultural messages are not there! Nothing. When I walk to Clapham junction train station, I live in South London, I walk past 34 eating establishments… I count them… We need to consume less to allow the developing world to consume more and we all need to change what we do and how we do it. In one sentence that’s it. We all need to change what and how we eat, lower what we consume, alter how we consume and allow and encourage low income countries to consume more.”
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Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy, City University of London
!If you want to find out more you can watch specially filmed interviews with each of them along with films of the other experts at the Y Touring Resource Cloud.
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THE PLAY
HUNGRY
THE DEBATE
The Debate
The Future of Food/Hungry Debate, April 24th 2013. Graphical interpretation by Shakeeb Abu Hamdan.

!The facilitated debate that follows the performance features the actors in character, and the use of an electronic voting system. The debate is designed to provide an opportunity for the audience to reflect on their experience while watching the play and to explore with the facilitator and the characters some of the issues around our relationship with food raised by Hungry.
!The discussion points below are included to give you an idea of what the debate will explore.
Discussion points
a) Who is responsible for ensuring people have a healthy diet? Individuals? Families? Health services? Governments? Food manufacturers?
b) How can people be persuaded to change their lifestyles and their diets? Education? Advertising? Social pressure?
c) Is it right for companies to develop products that bring economic benefits but at the risk of significant social cost?
d) Some people die from lack of food, whilst others die from eating too much of the wrong PAGE 18 OF 26
THE DEBATE
HUNGRY
THE DEBATE
food. Can this be justified?
e) Should manufacturers be allowed to produce and sell food that contains unhealthy ingredients with little or no nutritional value or should such food be banned?!
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THE DEBATE
HUNGRY
ONLINE
Hungry Online
! The Future of Food Tumblr blog During the development of this project, we created an Ideas Scrapbook on Tumblr as a way of collecting together relevant articles, short films and audio clips that inspired and informed Sarah and the creative team's thinking .
! You can find our blog at
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http://ytouringfutureoffood.tumblr.com
Here are some examples of the articles/items on the blog along with the relevant web link.
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Sugar intake must come down, says WHO – but UK likely to resist
British government's advisory committee, some of whom receive funding from food industry, sceptical about link with obesity
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The World Health Organisation is set to recommend a cut in the amount of sugar in our diets in the coming months, following reviews of the scientific evidence of the link with obesity – but any proposed lower limit for sugar will have to overcome scepticism among scientific advisers to the British government.
HTTP://TMBLR.CO/Z_JTSS10EYYFO! PAGE 20 OF 26
ONLINE
HUNGRY
ONLINE
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Health: it is time we got to grips with Big Sugar
Excess sugar in our diets is causing obesity and diabetes. Now is the time for tough legislation to regulate the food industry
Michael Rubens Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, last week received a setback in his estimable campaign to improve the health of his city. In March, he attempted to impose a ban on all sugary drinks in portions larger than 16oz… HTTP://TMBLR.CO/Z_JTSS10EV-VW!
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Why childhood diabetes is on the increase
Obesity is big news in Britain. Three out of five UK adults are now dangerously overweight. Almost one in ten under-fours are obese. Doctors have been warning for some time that our increasingly sedentary lifestyles are leading us down the slippery slope towards the huge obesity problem that plagues America and the associated health risks it brings HTTP://TMBLR.CO/Z_JTSS10EUQ6W!
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BBC Newsnight
Jeremy Paxman shows Coca Cola boss how much sugar is in a supersize cup HTTP://TMBLR.CO/Z_JTSS-GCJCU!
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Obese girl aged five taken into care after ballooning in weight to more than TEN stone! The obese child one of the heaviest of her age recorded in the UK weighs three times what a healthy child should HTTP://TMBLR.CO/Z_JTSS12C9WQ
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Why cheap meat costs the Earth
From breeding animals that feel no pain to cruelty in the slaughterhouse – our demand for meat poses huge moral dilemmas, says Alex Renton in this edited extract from his new book HTTP://TMBLR.CO/Z_JTSSUCYGUE
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Food banks: cowardly coalition can't face the truth about them
Conservatives cannot admit a real fear of hunger afflicts thousands HTTP://TMBLR.CO/Z_JTSS12CAPNU
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Fried chicken fix: after-school fast food
Cheap, quick and sociable, the chicken shop is now part of many schoolkids' lives. Jay Rayner wonders if anyone can wean our children off their favourite fast food! HTTP://TMBLR.CO/Z_JTSS-XWE2D!
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Food bank Britain: life below the line
The use of food banks has tripled in 12 months, as even people in work struggle to
feed themselves and their families
HTTP://TMBLR.CO/Z_JTSSSQ9UCL
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ONLINE
HUNGRY
ONLINE
Grub's up: can insects feed the world?
A tasty locust salad ‌ not yet on sale at major supermarkets! HTTP://TMBLR.CO/Z_JTSSRGKZN0!
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Obesity quadruples to nearly one billion in developing world
The number of overweight and obese adults in the developing world has almost quadrupled to around one billion since 1980, says a report from a UK think tank! HTTP://WWW.BBC.CO.UK/NEWS/HEALTH-25576400!
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ONLINE
HUNGRY
GLOSSARY
Glossary Medical/Scientific
!ADHD - Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a group of behavioural symptoms that include inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Attention deficit disorder (ADD) is a subtype of ADHD.
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Biodiversity - short for biological diversity, is the term used to describe the variety of life and processes found on Earth and includes ecosystem, genetic and cultural diversity, and the connections between these and all species.
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Chlamydia - is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the UK. It’s passed on from one person to another through unprotected sex (sex without a condom). In 2010, 186,753 people tested positive for chlamydia in England. Most of these- more than 150,000- were 24 years old or younger.
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Diabetes - is a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood sugar level to become too high. There are two main types of diabetes, referred to as type 1 and type 2. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin to function properly, or the body’s cells don’t react to insulin. This is known as insulin resistance.
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Fructose - occurs naturally in fruits, vegetables and their juices, as well as honey. It gives these foods their sweet taste. Fructose in crystalline form has been widely used for the past 20 years as a nutritional sweetener in foods and beverages.
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Insulin - is a hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreas, and is central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, skeletal muscles and fat tissue to absorb glucose from the blood.
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Glucose - also known as D-glucose or dextrose is a simple monosaccharide (sugar) found in plants. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with fructose and galactose, that are absorbed directly into the bloodstream during digestion.
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Obesity - a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems.
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Puppy Fat - fatty tissue that develops in childhood or adolescence and usually disappears as people get older
Popular Culture/Other Ant and Dec - Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, known collectively as Ant & Dec, are an English comedy and TV presenting duo from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England.
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GLOSSARY
HUNGRY
GLOSSARY
Susan Boyle - a Scottish singer who came to international public attention when she appeared as a contestant on the TV programme Britain’s Got Talent on 11 April 2009, singing “I Dreamed a Dream” from the popular musical Les Misérables.
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James Corden - an English stage, television and film actor, comedian, television comedy writer, producer and presenter.
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Simon Cowell - an English television, music and talent competition judge, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality.
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Crimewatch - a long-running and high-profile British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes with a view to gaining information from members of the public.
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Duke of Edinburgh Award - an award given for completing a programme of activities that can be undertaken by anyone aged 14 to 24.
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F.E’s -Full English's - a cooked breakfast usually consisting of bacon, sausages and eggs, often served with a variety of side dishes and a beverage such as coffee or tea.
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Food Bank - a non-profit, charitable organisation that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough food to avoid hunger.
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Going viral – a viral video is a video that becomes popular through the process of (most often) internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email. Viral videos often have humorous content and include televised comedy sketches
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Ocado - the UK’s only dedicated online supermarket, which sells groceries, household products, toys, books, and magazines.
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Oxfam - an international confederation of 17 organisations working in approximately 90 countries worldwide to find solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world.
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Personal trainer - a fitness professional involved in exercise prescription and instruction. They motivate clients by setting goals and providing feedback and accountability to clients. Trainers also measure their clients’ strengths and weaknesses with fitness assessments.
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Rangoon - also known as Yangon (literally: “End of Strife”) is a former capital of Burma (Myanmar) and the capital of Yangon Region.
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Shergar - an Irish racehorse, and winner of the Epsom Derby (1981) by ten lengths— the longest winning margin in the race’s history. Two years later, on 8 February 1983, Shergar was stolen by masked gunmen, the body was never discovered.
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Stollen - a traditional German fruit cake usually eaten during the Christmas season containing dried fruit and often marzipan and covered with sugar, powdered sugar or icing sugar.
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Tribute group - a music group, singer, or musician who specifically plays the music of a wellknown music act - sometimes one which has disbanded, ceased touring or is deceased.
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ONLINE
HUNGRY
GLOSSARY
Vine App - a mobile app owned by Twitter that enables its users to create and post short video clips. The service was introduced with a maximum clip length of six seconds.
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GLOSSARY
HUNGRY
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT Y TOURING
Find out more about our work
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Works like Y Touring’s The Gift which raise key ethical questions without giving glib answers, are important in preparing us for the future.
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Robin McKie, The Observer
Between 1995 and 2013 Y Touring Theatre Company commissioned and produced UK-wide tours of 13 plays exploring scientific advances in partnership with the Wellcome Trust and other organisations including the Mental Health Foundation, Nuffield Council on Bioethics, British Heart Foundation, John Innes Centre, European Dana Alliance for the Brain, Association of Medical Research Charities, Department of Trade and Industry, Medical Research Council, Department of Health, University of Ulster, Royal Albert Hall, National Institute for Health Research, Royal Academy of Engineering and Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Links If you would like to find out more about our work please visit one of the following websites:
! www.theatreofdebate.com !
Here you will find more information about our work as well as short films and audio recordings along with educational resources relating to a number of our Theatre of Debate productions.
! www.theatreofdebate.com/ytouring21/ !
Here you will find a series of essays about our work and a series of video interviews by leading scientists, opinion formers, young people, teachers and artists. These include Professor Lewis Wolpert, our patron Baroness Joan Bakewell and many others.
! http://ytouring.myresourcecloud.net !
This is our new resource website that offers online resources, as well as downloadable lessons for the classroom.
Contact Us Tel: 020 7520 3090
Email: info@ytouring.org.uk
Web: www.theatreofdebate.com
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FIND OUT MORE ABOUT Y TOURING